Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa has told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that he seeks to “restore and redefine ties” with Moscow, a key ally of ousted longtime Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad.
Al-Sharaa made the statement on Wednesday while meeting with Putin in Moscow during his first state visit to the country that has been hosting al-Assad since his exile from Syria 10 months ago.
“We are trying to restore and redefine in a new way the nature of these relations so there is independence for Syria, sovereign Syria, and also its territorial unity and integrity and its security stability,” al-Sharaa told Putin in the Kremlin.
The Syrian leader assured that Damascus would honour all past agreements with Moscow. “There are bilateral relations and shared interests that bind us with Russia, and we respect all agreements made with it,” he said.
According to Syrian officials cited by the Reuters and AFP news agencies, al-Sharaa, who once headed the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda under the name Abu Mohammed al-Julani, plans to use today’s meeting with Putin to request Moscow hand over al-Assad.
But there was no mention of the sensitive diplomatic matter in al-Sharaa’s brief televised remarks at the beginning of the meeting.
Putin praises al-Sharaa’s ‘great success’
Welcoming al-Sharaa, Putin hailed decades of “special relations” between the two countries, in which he claimed Moscow was always guided by Syrian people’s interests, and said his government wanted to expand them.
He also praised recent parliamentary elections in Syria – the first since al-Assad’s overthrow – saying the process would strengthen ties between all political forces.
“I believe that this is a great success for you, because it leads to the consolidation of society, and despite the fact that Syria is currently going through difficult times, it will nevertheless strengthen ties and cooperation between all political forces in Syria,” said Putin.
Despite having been on opposite sides of the battle lines of Syria’s 13-year civil war that Moscow intervened in, the new rulers in Damascus have taken a pragmatic approach to relations with Moscow, as they have with other foreign powers.
For Damascus, maintaining ties with Russia is important for rebuilding the war-shattered country and shoring up international legitimacy for the government.
In a recent interview with US network CBS, al-Sharaa said, “Russia has close and longstanding relations with Syria, which relate to the basic structure of the state and to energy and food, for which Syria depends partly on Russian supplies, as well as some old strategic interests”.
Russia, for its part, has retained a presence at its air and naval bases on the Syrian coast, and the Kremlin has voiced hope for negotiating a deal to keep the outposts. Moscow has also reportedly sent oil shipments to Syria.
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